Recollection
by CrystalDreams
Summary: Possible major spoilers for the main game. Most stories told of a hero gathering around his closest friends and having a huge celebration to celebrate their victory. With all that happened, Beck was far from that.


The air resounded with loud construction noises, the reconstruction of the city in full swing. The damage was far beyond what anyone had thought it would be.

I winced at the noise that seemed to surround the Colosseum, the cranes and other large machinery looming over it. As the major entertainment of the city, it was one of the first few places that was to be repaired, though at a quite costly fee. This had been the battleground, after all, for the 'final boss fight' that ended the catastrophe.

"Don't like the loud noises, 'ey?" I glanced over, noticing that one of the regular workers of the Colosseum walk up beside me. She was the head announcer for it all, after all. "Neither do I, honestly, but I guess you can't have them working fast without all the noise…"

"I guess so…" Her sunny disposition contrasted against my downcast mood, not to mention her hair and clothes that shone of a bright yellow.

She just as well knew that I had my ups and down days, and as of the moment, it was definitely a down.

"You're sure gloomy today… I would've thought the hero would've been more… ecstatic."

"It's… just a lot of mixed feelings."

My siblings were perfectly fine, but the pain of fighting with that dull, controlled look in their eyes still stung, and would sting for some time.

The one who caused all this chaos by her own unknowing was now understanding of what she had done, but if the ones affected by this tragedy truly knew of what had happened, they'd turn on her and the professor in a heartbeat.

And, then, there was the fear of the peace. The peace that was once unarguable was now slowly breaking around us… and the advocates of peace were secretly afraid of what was to come for the future.

Her smile slipped from her face as she spoke, making him feel a bit worse. She hardly frowned when she was out in public like this… but she _was_ human, after all. "Yeah, I get it. To be the only one who could save the country… maybe even the world. It could've spread if you hadn't stopped it, y'know."

As she said those words, a sudden feeling hit me.

Did I choose to be the hero… or was I forced to be one? The question started to plague my mind.

I trusted the Professor, of course. He had never wronged me, and he knew of my potential, as how he had designed me.

But… all the same… it wasn't him that had forced me into that position. It was the circumstances of the situation that had.

It would've plagued me even more, as more would come to mind that would've backed that feeling, but her voice broke through it.

"Beck, are you okay?"

I stood there, silent for a moment. She got the message pretty quickly.

"Do you need some time to think? I'm sure it was… _a lot_ , and _quite_ sudden too." The look in her purple eyes was almost of a mother's. "It was a lot for me and my father, too."

"...No. I don't want to be alone. Not now, not _ever_." All the confidence of being the hero had broken around me as the pressure of the world rained down on me again.

I'd regain that confidence soon, as I fought both as a competitor in the Battle Colosseum and as a fighter through the emotions of what it felt to be human, but everything seemed to ache like all the running through each 'stage' was now getting to me.

It was emotional aches, however, and those were not as easy to heal.

"Alright, I'll stay with you, then. 'Sides, I got nothing better to do other than hear dumb complaints to tell to 'Mrs. Chairwoman of the NBCA.'" She, of course, was referring to her mother, naturally, which all the regulars knew of their relation. Even with the emotional tension, she could still try to add some sarcasm in. "After all… it must be hard to be around the others, isn't it?"

"How… did you know?" Nobody but the doctors and the other Mighty Numbers knew about that.

"I've seen that look in your eye when you're around them. I just kinda figured something happened." She had been at the sanctioned practices as of late, as part of her duty to analyze the competitor's traits and quirks. If she had noticed, _had they?_ A sudden wave of guilt hit me.

"It won't be forever, I promise." I promised myself, too. "I won't let that control what I think about them."

"I know."

As it all fell heavy upon me, I felt relieved for once as I knew it would get better.

And I'd become the hero that destiny made me out to be… even if I'm not perfect for the job, at the end of the day… I'm the only one who can protect everyone from harm.


End file.
